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It was Thursday night, and Paul sat alone in his dorm room. Can of coke on the stand next to his bed, biography of Otto von Bismarck in his hands, and a pencil between his teeth. Thursday night, and he was alone in his room. Thursday night. Thirsty Thursday. The start of a college weekend. And he was alone, in his room, with a book and a pencil and a can of coke. There is something seriously wrong with this picture.
Now, it's not that Paul was anti-social, or he didn't have any friends, or he doesn't like to party. He wasn't, he did, and he does. And it wasn't like there was nowhere to go. There is always somewhere to go on a Thursday night at a big state university campus. Hell, there's always somewhere to go on a Tuesday night. This week particularly, being Rush Week for the campus fraternities, was jam-packed with parties. There were pretty much three to six parties every night of the week to choose from. Each complete with the college male's essentials. Booze, babes, and, well, more booze and more babes. So if he had wanted to, Paul could very easily have found himself a party, just like his roommate, his friends, and virtually everyone on his floor.
But Paul's problem was simple and inescapable. The book, the biography of Bismarck, was for a class on European history. It had barely been two weeks, and already Paul was behind. He needed to have the book read, completely, in its 378 page entirety, by the following Tuesday. And Paul knew enough to know he wasn't going to get a single bit of work done Friday, Saturday, and most likely Sunday, too. That left him Thursday and Monday. And when Thursday night's reading began, Paul was on page 32.
So there Paul was, stuck in his room, on a Thursday night, with a book, a pencil, and a can of coke. The book was, to put it mildly, boring. To put it accurately, it was painfully, agonizingly, gut-wrenchingly boring. Even completely devoid of distractions, Paul wasn't making very good progress. He had soldiered his way through 45 pages by the time the coke ran out.
As a good a time as any to take a break, he thought to himself. After all, he'd been at it for more than an hour and a half straight. Time to grab another coke. He fished through his pockets for loose change, came up with the required sixty cents, and headed out of the room and down the hall. A flight of stairs and one vending machine later, Paul had his coke. However, he was by no means inclined to return to work.
I wonder if anyone's still around, he thought. He realized then that he'd found the distraction he needed, and began to wander the halls looking for people still in the dorm. To his complete lack of surprise, there was virtually nobody left. Some people on the first floor had come back earlier, others were leaving late, and some, like him, were stuck doing homework. He stopped and chatted for a bit with some, asked how their nights had been so far, how they liked their classes, etc. Anything to keep from returning to that awful book.
Paul wandered aimlessly until he ended up back on his own floor. Again, virtually nobody home. Even the R.A. was out. As he walked down the hall, Paul saw Frank, who never went out; Sara who had already stumbled back and passed out; and Sara's roommate who was making sure Sara didn't puke on her bed. Also present on the floor was Amy, a friend of Paul's. Paul was rather surprised to find her door open. Usually she'd be out partying 'til late. But then again, usually Paul would be out partying with her. Paul knocked on her door.
"Hey, Amy," he said.
"Hey, Paul, what're you doing here?"
"Nothing much, just avoiding some homework. How about you? I thought you were going to that Sig Ep party tonight."
"I was. I mean, I did. Sara, Jen, and I, we all went. We just had to leave early."
"I saw Sara, she looked really messed up."
"Yeah, well, you know how she gets. She's at a party fifteen minutes and she's already had four drinks. Fifteen minutes later, it's nap time."
"Good thing you brought her back, those frats can be shady places."
"Yeah, tell me about it. I heard about this one girl who passed out in one of the rooms. She woke up and some guy was groping her while she was asleep."
"That's awful."
"I know. She like, needed therapy or something after, it was really sad."
"Jesus…"
"Yeah. Anyway," she said, switching to a lighter, less depressing note. "What are you doing here? Isn't there some dance floor you could be tearing up, some keg you could be draining, some girl you could be trying to sleep with?"
"Oh, Amy. I'm sure there are endless dance floors and endless kegs that need tearing and tapping, but what woman could possible compare to you?" Paul and Amy played this game. They were both big flirts.
"Paul, you always know just what to say."
"You beauty makes it impossible to say anything else," Paul said, really hamming it up.
"Aw, you're the sweetest. Come here and give me a hug."
In all the times before, the hugs between Paul and Amy had been light, and soft, and warm, and caring. And they had been loving in that way that only true friendships can ever be. They had been all this and more, but above all, they had always been platonic. There had never been the slightest spark of romantic or sexual chemistry present in these hugs.
Maybe this was one hug too many.
Maybe tonight was the wrong night for flirting.
Maybe their judgments were a little bit off.
Maybe a lot of things, but the bottom line is that when Paul and Amy hugged this time, there was electricity in it. There was chemistry in it. There was, for lack of a better word, potential in that hug. Amy felt it. And Paul felt it. And neither wanted to let go.
With their arms still wrapped around each other, Amy and Paul looked into each other's eyes, each other's hearts, the very essence of each other's being. And they kissed. Light and soft, warm and caring, their lips met. They kissed once, twice, and a third time. On that third meeting of lips, their mouths parted and their tongues intertwined. Paul massaged Amy's tongue with his, while she massaged his with hers. When they parted this time, Amy leaned to Paul's ear and said in a whisper,
"Lock the door." It was the sexiest thing Paul had ever heard. He could do nothing but obey. He did as he had been instructed.
But now, parted from each other's arms, realities began to sink in, and consequences began to be weighed. Paul looked across the room at Amy from the now-locked door. He no longer saw just the friend he loved, but the woman he desired. And he didn't know how to reconcile the two.
"Amy…" he began, but was soon cut off.
"Shh, Paul. Don't worry."